Chase vs. Follow
Its been over a year since I posted on my blog. Partially cause I forgot I had one 
But mostly didn’t have much to say.
Since I left off my life is moving towards the unknown. God is beckoning me to step into the risk of running hard after him. I was in a meeting at church this last week as we were planning the next series. Pastor Todd was asking us about ideas for titles for the theme of the “call to be a disciple.” When Jesus asked his disciples to follow him it was a “Radical Call” to these simple men. I don’t even think the word “follow” really effectively describes the proposition Jesus gave these guys. It wasn’t like….”Hey, fellas, when you’re done mending that net, or after your evening catch, or once you say goodbye to your family, or go get ‘cleaned up’, come ‘follow’ me.” NO! It was forward, it wasn’t either/or, it wasn’t if/then, it wasn’t “would you like to?” It was a COME, follow me. But this is where the word “follow” disconnects for me. Think about what we have turned “follow” into. I follow like 35 people on twitter, I can follow your vehicle to the destination i’m looking for. To Follow is basically a non intrusive casual verb today. Jesus’ Call to his disciples was an INTRUSIVE, demand for them to AGGRESSIVELY PURSUE a life that leaves all they knew behind. Families…left behind…jobs, left behind….possessions, left behind. ”Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” MATTHEW 8:22. There was nothing nonchalant about it.
So what does it mean for me to “follow” Jesus. I call myself a believer. I call myself a Christian…whatever that means anymore. I claim to have a relationship with Jesus. When it works out in my schedule. when my priorities aren’t all jumbled up…when I’ve had enough time to spend with my wife and daughter…and when my weekend worship set list is picked out and produced. This series hasn’t even started, and already I am wrecked at the thought that I don’t really follow hard after Jesus. I’m so irritated with my complacency. I’m a worship leader/pastor, I’m a husband, father, and leader in many senses of the word…but again “To Follow” doesn’t beckon my all. So instead, for me, as of a few days ago….
I will CHASE Jesus. He is my all, my everything, my source of life, breath, existence, peace, happieness, being, creativity, need, desire. He is greater than anything I can fill my life with. He is the greatest Taste! there is none like Him. I choose now to come to the banquet table and sit and dine with my Savior. Chase….to me…means an Aggressive Pursuit of my God. To take up my cross TODAY, and die to myself and Chase Jesus.
Get ready, cause when you really Run hard after Jesus, He is gonna rock your world. He will Ruin your simple perspective of Him. He will wreck your presuppositions of what a God should look like. Brace yourself. I’m gonna. I’m ready. Its time for our faith to be more than a label. Its time for our faith to “MARK” us. like a nail through the ear, a tattoo on the face. Our faith should be so on our sleeve that we have no other choice but to proclaim the redemptive power of the Grace we’ve been freely given. There is power in the name of Jesus. There is healing in his name. There is a place that we can call home. Jesus. He is all we need.
It might be another year before i post again. So until next time. Blessings….Go, make disciples…CHASE HIM!!!!
April 17, 2010 at 8:51 am
Dude, don’t wait another year. You have to many good things to say.
April 18, 2010 at 6:09 am
Agreed. . .thank you for sharing Russell.
April 17, 2010 at 10:55 am
Solid post. Along with “chase” (which sounds like there is a distance/gap) is “pursue”, and that for me makes it feel like our Jesus is catchable for long moments of fellowship. Key in this word picture is that our chasing after Him is not a game He orchestrates for His comedic pleasure. It is the faith. It is the path of righteousness on which our warts and blemishes get reduced or even removed. And we don’t chase him out of ONLY our own strength and will… He gives us the energy and passion to chase… Constantly looking over His shouldering and quietly yelling Biblical encouragement.
I love where you are taking this topic. Give us more of this action during the chase!
April 17, 2010 at 1:08 pm
thx for sharing this.
April 17, 2010 at 1:39 pm
Well said, Russell. Love and miss you all!
April 17, 2010 at 1:56 pm
“He will Ruin your simple perspective of Him. He will wreck your presuppositions of what a God should look like.”
So True.
Great Thoughts.
April 17, 2010 at 5:47 pm
great thoughts, and I have been wrestling with similar things. thanks for the challenge!
April 19, 2010 at 2:55 am
Love it my old friend. I know you will find that the faster you run the more you will see Him “chasing” you. Love to you and your family.
April 20, 2010 at 11:03 pm
Well said. I keep finding myself in this same place recently. God is calling us to a kind of unpopular and largely unknown Christianity. In the words of Dr. Don Orvis, its time to get out of “church-ianity” and obey the LORD!
Your thoughts on the present use of the word “follow” are important for people today. If they understand the gospel in light of the current meaning of the word “follow,” like you say, they will be ineffective. To “chase” the LORD surely gets closer to the point in the biblical meaning of “follow.”
To build on what you’ve said, Dr. Joe Stowell preached a message on Matthew 4:18-22. He brought a lot of current cultural context for that story in its time.
First, the teachers of the day, whether religous, philosophical or what have you, they never asked for disciples. Disciples sought out their teacher. If they were lucky, learned enough, and not your typical lay-person without any education, they would be accepted as disciples. Jesus definately broke this cycle. These men were fishermen! This is essentially the bottom of the “educated” society. They were as blue-collar as you could be. Yet, Jesus PURSUED them as disciples. WHAT AN HONOR! The entire system was turned on its head. Of course they would immediately drop everything! As men whose only occupational ability was to fish, physical labor, to be asked by a rabbi to follow him and be his disciple would have caught them more than off-guard. This was an opportunity to make something of themselves never before conceived- only dreamed of. Not to mention, this Jesus was claiming the Messiah (later in the text)!
Second, the goal of being a teacher’s disciple was to mimic, mirror, imitate, reflect, and look and act exactly like your teacher. The disciple was to become an exact replication of the one he followed. This was no mere once a week class. It was not a minor change in behavior. It was a radical shift in paradigm, thought process, and lifestyle. ALL THE MORE REASON for communicating afresh what it means to “follow” Jesus.
I think you are on to something with the word “chase.” We cannot any longer allow the current situation of our nation, culture, or world to define the way we think, act, and live. The bible, God’s revelation to us, is the guide for behavior for us– what’s more, it is the story of the desperately needed redemtion of fallen human-kind. A complacent perspective on the human predicament will mean a complacent perspective on the human need for salvation will mean a complacent perspective on the call to CHASE the LORD JESUS. If we don’t think we need Him, why would we “follow” Him? Why would we imitate Him? Why would we seek to obey Him? It is foolishness everytime we think that we are doin good on our own. Even more foolish is the folly of GOD’s LOVE for us! He loves us in the condition we are in and desires to restore us in relationship with Him. Why would a perfect God WANT to do this? This is the question of the day, of existence. Unanswerable. THE LOVE OF GOD IS FOLLY. Therefore, our wreckless pursuit of Him will probably look similar. As we chase Him, it is likely that we will not look like the rest of the world. They will think it foolishness.
CHASE your MASTER. He has redeemed you BY HIS BLOOD and has asked YOU to be HIS disciple. May complacency no longer be the general lable put on American Christians.
I love that you are writing about this. Next time, maybe include some practical applications and implications that you have enacted as a result of wrestling through these thoughts. It would be sweet to see how this is TRANSFORMING you and your family and your church. That is the role of the TRUTH. Let it change us. If there is anything I’ve learned at Moody, its that it is entirely TOO easy to stay in the “theoretical” and never move to the practical -a transformed heart which applies what i’m learning. HEAD TO HEART. HEART TO HANDS. HANDS TO HEAD. Its a beautiful cycle. We learn by doing, not merely by hearing.
I love you. Profound thoughts. PLEASE, keep at them. We all appriciate those who are able to communicate their thoughts with words. Not everyone can do it. Speak for those who can’t, and never underestimate the need of people to hear what you have to say. This is the nature of being a leader.
-jamie